Cheating Death
by yunor
Summary: Death is merely a door closed. It is up to you to decide whether or not you'll open it again. Or tear it off its hinges.


2:27 AM

"Oh Nick I can't wait!" Judy chirped happily. The fox in uniform walking beside her tilted his aviators down so that she could look him in the eyes. The high summer sun was shining bright in the cloudless sky. The air was pleasantly warm and a soft breeze kept the day at a seemingly perfect atmosphere all around. About three years have passed since the Night Howler case was closed and the first ever fox ZPD officer was accepted into the force. Now summer was here and vacation was presenting itself at every opportunity.

"Sun, sand, sea and a cute bunny? Oh Carrots you're not the only one who can't wait." His smug smile graced his face and Judy instinctively rolled her eyes and silently added 'Dumb fox' under her breath. The duo were slowly walking from the ZPD towards the nearest coffee store where they usually spent their free time talking and enjoying one another's company. As they entered the simple store, they noted how it was full to bursting with teenagers from all over Zootopia.

"Huh must be their summer break already." Nick noted slightly annoyed at the large crowd of loud animals that were crowding in and around the store. Judy on the other hand was happy to see so many animals both predator and prey getting along with each other. The pair in blue made their way to the counter where a happy looking coyote was serving drinks.

"Welcome to Pawbucks, how may I help you?" the coyote in question asked with a bright gleam in his eyes. Judy took her time deciding on what type of coffee she wanted while Nick simply ordered their standard black with a dash of milk.

"What Carrots? Can't decide on your coffee?" the fox mocked his friend with a smile.

"Hmph!" She pointed to the Iced Coffee on the menu and the coyote skillfully started preparing the drinks for the duo.

"So Nick… where are you planning to go?" She asked casually looking at her brewing coffee. Silently in the background, she could pick up a happy upbeat love song from years past.

 _The smell of you in every single dream I dream…_

"I was thinking maybe a certain bunny would accompany me to the new island resort that just opened?" He wiggled his eyebrows at Judy. Her eyes grew wide when she realized what he was implying.

"Y-you mean Light Beach? The fancy island with the golden beaches and bungalows and all?" Judy clearly couldn't keep the excitement out of her voice.

"The one and only." He smirked in return.

The coyote set their drinks down on the counter and waited patiently for the fox and bunny to pay. Judy began pulling out some money when a sudden paw on her shoulder made her look up in confusion.

"Relax Hopps, this one's on me." Nick paid the cashier with a really big tip and grabbed both of their coffees. Once they found a relatively empty corner, they sat down and continued talking. Mostly because Judy wouldn't let up on the whole resort thing and how much it costs.

"Relax. I know somebody who works there and best part is I already have a place for two reserved." Judy could hardly believe what she was hearing. Nick had actually gone so far out of his way as to take her on a fancy vacation to a place she'd been drooling over ever since they announced that it was being constructed a couple of years ago.

"But how can you afford that Nick? We both know the ZPD doesn't pay as good as most other jobs do." She shot a quizzical look at the sly fox who was enjoying his own cup of coffee.

"200$ per day, every day, 365 days a year." Nick straightened his uniform and gently flicked at his badge. "It's called a hustle, sweetheart." He winked at the bunny sitting opposite him. Slowly taking another sip of his coffee, the fox stood up and pointed to the exit.

"Come on Carrots, let's go before Bogo gives us another earful of duty before everything else." The bunny laughed and followed her partner outside.

3:58 AM - Lightning tore the sky asunder with heavy thunder rolling right behind it and Judy Hopps was startled awake, shooting up in her small bed, sweat beading on her gray fur and her eyes wide and mouth bone dry.

"Oh Nick…" She choked out right as tears started falling, matting her fur and wetting her sheets. Almost 3 months have passed since they had spoken last, Nick leaving a few days early to arrange everything on Light Beach Resort. But as the plane he was on was about to land, it went dark and crashed in the ocean just a few miles short of reaching the isle. All passengers were pronounced dead even though they had yet to retrieve any bodies of the deceased. When the sad news reached the ZPD, Judy had been devastated. For days on end she was shutting herself off from her friends and coworkers.

She was given a month off duty so that she could collect herself and move on. But sadness turned to anguish and hope turned to despair for the little rabbit as the realization that the one who was first to believe in her and trust her was now gone. Her nights were now spent living in nightmares and waking up crying. Sooner or later life had to come knocking on her doors again and the little bunny had to return to her job as a police officer. Alone. Her friends kept looking at her like she was some broken toy with no hope of ever being whole again. And so the disheartened bunny put on a brave mask during the day and kept Zootopia safe. As time passed the world forgot about the accident and about Nick Wilde. She alone was left struggling with the memories they shared and the time they had spent together either on or off duty.

She wiped off her tears and looked at her phone. Red eyes and tears streaks were visible in the reflection on her dark phone screen. She pressed the on button and a picture of her and Nick smiling together under a bridge greeted her. Judy Hopps smiled.

"Such an emotional bunny aren't you?" Nicks happy voice echoed in her mind.

"God I miss you so much you dumb fox." The familiar sting in her eyes returned and barely holding it back she whispered "Please come back…"

And then as if some vile curse was placed upon her, the phone she was clutching for dear life rang. She barely looked at the caller ID before her heart stopped in fear. Another bout of thunder rolled across the sky and the ensuing lightning illuminated the screen of her phone, revealing that the caller was no other than her very own Nick Wilde.

With shaking paws she pressed the answer button and gently held her phone to her ears. A raspy breath seeped through the speaker and her fur stood on end. She held her breath and waited, for something – anything, scared that this moment may be over if she spoke.

And then it came through. Despite being painful and weak she was positive that it was his voice. It HAD to be! Judy gripped her phone tighter, her knuckles turning pale white under her silver fur.

"H-help me…" And it was over. The line dropped and grim silence replaced any noise that might have filled her small apartment room previously.

"Nick? NICK!" She yelled into her phone, fresh tears bubbling at the rim of her eyes. 'This can't be happening. Please don't let this be a dream!' the bunny cursed in her head as she frantically tried to call back her fox, sadly to no avail. She was stirred from her turmoil as her phone vibrated again. This time though it was the ZPD dispatch line. And judging by the time of night, the only mammal who could be calling her was the new wolf recruit who was assigned night shifts.

"Officer Hopps." She said sternly and waited for an explanation as to why the force was calling her at this time of night.

"Jud-dy..." The same raspy and pained voice echoed distantly through the device. Her breath hitched and she jerked the phone away to look at the caller ID again. By the time she put the phone back to her ears, the line went dead. Not even a minute later, her phone vibrated again. Her mom this time. Fresh tears bubbled to the surface as she answered it. With video this time.

What she saw through the screen of her phone made her throat seize up and her blood run cold as ice. The screen was mostly dark but in the center of it where she hoped to anything would be her mother, there was a half decaying fox head, his right face side completely rotten away, leaving exposed teeth and bone, his eyes pitch black with a miniscule white orb as the iris in the middle. When it spoke, she could see the tendons of the jaw strain to stay attached.

"Juud-dy..." She threw the phone away from her in fright, the screen shattering on impact with the floor. Judy placed her paws on her chest, trying desperately to calm her heart rate down and stop the panic attack. 'This isn't real. This isn't real. This isn't real." She saw a shadow creep towards her from her open window, the bright moonlight shining through the midnight thunderstorm. Her head twitched towards the window and in the split moment that her eyes met the dead orbs of the fox crouching in the window, a massive bolt of purple lightning struck down a few dozen feet from her home, blinding her. In the ensuing thunder she could clearly hear a pained and anger filled yowl "JUDYYYY!"

As her eyes adjusted back to the blackness of the night, she could almost swear that outside of her window were not the streets and roads she was used to, but the grim visage of a flooded part of the Rainforest District.

With her stomach doing flips and her heart filled with fear and unease, the bunny quickly got dressed in her police uniform and darted out of her apartment. She wasn't going to spend the night home anymore. The ZPD has a few night shift runners and she was hoping that the company they could provide would calm her down even if just a bit.

As the door to her apartment clicked close, and the keys in the lock swiftly turned a few times, two sets of claw marks began scraping their way down the front door right where Judy was looking at. She stumbled away from the door as the claw marks began bleeding a dark deep red.

"No no no no no" the bunny kept repeating to herself as she ran away from her apartment and out into the heavy downpour. In her frenzied haste she had forgotten to grab an umbrella but with what she just saw, Judy could not care any less if she was soaked to the bone or not. And with the time of night that it was, there was no way she would catch a cab ride to the precinct. And so she grit her teeth and took a light jog through the heaviest rain that the Sahara Square has ever seen. Thankfully she lived very close to the precinct so the jog only took her about 10 minutes. The downpour seemed not only to beat down on her body, but with every drop that hit her face, a heavy weight seemed to settle deeper and deeper into her very core. Every once in a while she would turn her head around to check if he was still following her and to her relief she always found that she was alone. And then it clicked in her head, just as she stopped in front of the ZPD building. She was alone. In the biggest city around for hundreds of miles. A city supposedly teeming with night life of sin and debauchery, and yet here she was. In the center of this great metropolis. Alone.

She turned her head every which way only to realize that not a single light was turned on, nor were any clubs active. Not even the lamp post were illuminating the streets. The bunny looked up at the crying sky and her violet eyes widened in sheer horror. She didn't feel it. She could not feel the rain on her face, or the cold wind blow through her soaked fur. She didn't feel the ground beneath her feet. Judy tried blowing some air in her paws to warm them up, but as she tried the little wet rabbit could not seem to exhale any breath. Nor inhale it for that matter. She didn't feel the need to blink either, the rain falling on her violet orbs did not bother her.

Her phone vibrated loudly. 'What the... I didn't...' Her thoughts were firing rapidly around her head as she clearly remembered throwing her phone at the floor of her apartment and not picking not back up. As she took the device out of her pocket, she noticed it was not damaged at all. Even the scratches she made while accidentally dropping it on the pavement once were gone. There was no caller ID and Judy decided to wait the call out. A few dozen rings later, it answered itself. And instead of the broken and pained voice she got to hear a few times already, a horrible distorted melody started playing. A gentle female voice echoing some barely distinguishable lyrics in the background.

 _Pick it up, pick it all up... And start again..._

A lamp post across the street far away from her flickered to life. There was a shadowy figure standing under it, a bushy tail flicking from side to side behind it. Judy tried getting a closer look but as soon as she took a step forward, the lamp went out. A few seconds passed and a closer lamp flickered on, the same shadowy figure under it. Still too far away for Judy to see who it might be, but deep down she had a gnawing feeling, the person was all too familiar to her.

 _Youve got a second chance... escape it all... its just irrelevant..._

The bunny tried to end the call on her phone, but the distorted music kept getting louder. When she looked back up, the lamp post right in front of her was turned on and under it. Nothing. 'Nick please... Stop.' She couldn't bring herself to say those words as she wearily approached the cone of light, oblivious to the figure approaching her from behind. She stepped into the light and the world around her went completely dark. She couldn't see past the cone of artificial light that was pouring over her from above. Her ears drooping with fear and sadness, the rabbit noticed that her phone quieted down, merely playing a soft echo of the melody it was before.

She felt a gentle tap on her shoulder and upon turning around, she saw him. Truly saw him. Not the gruesome visage that was haunting her before, but the smiling, dapper, sly fox she used to spend her days with. There he stood, mere inches from her in the pouring rain under the street light.

"Hey Carrots!" She heard his cheery voice. But she didn't see him speak. The fox merely stood there with a sad smile splayed across his face.

"N-Nick..." She choked on her own words, the phone dropping onto the sidewalk beneath her, screen shattering again. She took a step forward - he took a step back.

"Carrots, please stay there." She heard him again. He looked miserable and broken.

"Nick please..." Fresh tears streaked down her wet cheeks, melding with the falling rain. Around them the blanket of water grew thicker and heavier. She took another step forward - he took another step back.

They were standing at the edge of the light now. Pure blackness behind Nick, radiating light behind Judy. The fox opened his mouth and closed it seconds after.

"Judy... I lo-" The light burned out violently, the bulb popping above their heads, shattered glass falling over them. Judy ducked her head low but the fox remained unmoving. When she looked back up, he was gone and in his place, in a puddle on the ground was a picture of them at Light Beach. Together. Happy.

Her hearth started beating with heavy beats as she picked up the photo and looked at it. It looked real. Yet she couldn't remember. 'This never happened. NO. THIS ISN'T REAL!' she screamed at herself inside her head. Clutching the photograph tightly, she tried as hard as she could to wake up from this nightmare.

As another flash of white lightning struck across the sky above her, the photograph in her paws reflected a scene that as far as she knew, never happened. The photograph of a mammal couple, dressed in summer attire on a mostly uncrowded beach in the evening. Sunset behind them and cocktails in their paws the duo were beaming with smiles at the camera. A happy fox and a happy bunny.

A dead fox. And a sad bunny.

A broken fox. And a dead bunny.


End file.
